By Dan Truttschel
CORRESPONDENT
On paper, it certainly appears that the Big Foot-Williams Bay girls soccer team will be quite different than the team it put on the field a year ago.
Any team that loses the number of talented seniors to graduation would say the same thing.
But in the same breath, it also doesn’t mean the Chiefs don’t have reason for optimism again this spring.
In fact, they do.
Big Foot lost 11 seniors from the 2012 squad that finished 17-4 overall and was second in the Rock Valley Conference at 12-1-1.
“We are young this year,” Big Foot coach Annie Isham said. “We will need some of our younger players to mature quickly to meet our goal of winning conference and making it to sectionals this year.”
Big Foot graduated a slew of seniors who received All-RVC honors a year ago, including the conference’s co-Player of the Year, Brittani Isham.
The Chiefs also must replace first-team selections from 2012 Morgan Sutich and Katie Pearce, along with second-team picks Sarah Abel and Brittany Sutich and Alex Martin, who was named honorable mention.
That’s a lot of talent – and plenty of Big Foot’s offense – for this year’s group to make up for. Morgan Sutich had 23 goals in 20 games a year ago.
But Isham is confident the Chiefs will do just that, even if it takes a little time, especially defensively.
“We have a lot of speed, and I plan to use that to score goals,” she said. “We are replacing most of our defenders with younger players. We may struggle defensively to start.”
Returning to the varsity this spring are seniors Maggie Kivlin, Molly Kovarik and Rachael Gooding; juniors Schyler Isham and Natalie Boldger; and sophomores Mari Hubanks, Kathryn Colby, Emma Crement and Rachel Heidenreich.
Isham said the rosters at all three levels haven’t been set yet because of the difficulty in evaluating talent indoors.
But she does know the three senior captains will be counted on heavily if the Chiefs are going to enjoy success again this spring.
“I will need strong leadership from them to bring the younger players up to pace,” Isham said. “We will also look to junior Schyler Isham to lead the team in controlling the middle of the field. Kivlin and sophomore Mari Hubanks need to score goals.”
Even with the turnover in the roster, Isham knows the expectations are high again in 2013.
“We should definitely contend for the conference title,” she said. “Even with losing our seniors, we return nine varsity players.”
Isham is assisted this year by JV coach Melissa Bonow and volunteer assistant Rene Perez.
Big Foot opens its 2013 season Tuesday, April 2, when it hosts Palmyra-Eagle at 5:30 p.m. The Chiefs travel to East Troy Thursday, April 4, at 4:45 p.m., followed by a non-conference road contest at Delavan-Darien Saturday, April 6, at 1:30 p.m.
